Arizona Criminal Damage

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If you were charged with criminal damage in Arizona, contact our aggressive criminal defense attorney, Dave Smith, to defend your case. Mr. Smith has successfully defended thousands of cases for his clients in Maricopa County, Arizona. He knows the local legal system and has the experience needed to get results. Consultations are always free.

WHAT IS CRIMINAL DAMAGE IN ARIZONA

Criminal damage occurs most often where a person recklessly damages or tampers with the property of another person or of a utility, such as water or electric. 

For example, a person who recklessly drives their car off the road and damages the city's electric power equipment or pole may be charged with criminal damage. 

Another example of criminal damage occurs where people get into an argument in a residence and someone throws a glass cup through a television screen.

Spray painting, or defacing property on either a private building or a public structure is another example of criminal damage.  

CRIMINAL DAMAGE ARIZONA LAW 

A.R.S. 13-1602 defines criminal damage as:

A person commits criminal damage by:

1. Recklessly defacing or damaging property of another person.
2. Recklessly tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value.
3. Recklessly damaging property of a utility.
4. Recklessly parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water.
5. Recklessly drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground, and that is made without permission of the owner.
6. Intentionally tampering with utility property.

Criminal damage charges range in severity from misdemeanor charges all the way to class 4 felony charges, depending on the value of the property damaged. Contact Phoenix criminal damage lawyer, Dave Smith, to go over the facts of your case and start building your defense today. 

Classifications based on valuation:

• $10,000 or more in damages - for recklessly damaging the property of another is a class 4 felony;
• $5,000 or more in damages - for recklessly damaging the property of a utility;  or if the person intentionally tampers with utility property and the damage causes an imminent safety hazard to any person - is a class 4 felony;
• $2,000 but less than $10,000 in damages - for recklessly damaging the property of another - is a class 5 felony;
• $1,000 but less than $2,000 in damages - for recklessly damaging the property of another - is a class 6 felony; 
• More than $250 - but less than $1,000 in damages - for recklessly damaging the property of another - is a class 1 misdemeanor; and
•  Class 2 misdemeanor for all other cases.

The court will weigh several factors to help determine the value of the property or utility that was damaged such as cost to repair damage to the property:

• Labor costs
• Material costs
• Equipment costs
• Cost of replacement
• Other factors

There are several potential defenses to criminal damage charges. Every case is different with its own unique facts and circumstances, so it is important to contact a criminal defense attorney skilled in criminal damage law to review your case.

Phoenix criminal damage attorney, Dave Smith, conducts extensive defense investigations in the form of witness and police interviews and deeply reviews discovery materials to find the weaknesses in every case. This is how you win cases, and Mr. Smith aggressively pursues issues in order to get his clients the best possible outcome.    

DEFENDANT DID NOT ACT RECKLESSLY

Whether the accused acted recklessly or the result occurred simply as a matter of accident is a potential defense.

"Recklessly" is defined as conduct a person takes in which that person disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a particular result will occur, which a reasonable person would not do under the same circumstances. This is generally a gross deviation from what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

For example, if a person is driving down the road and suffers a stroke, which causes them to veer off the road and crash into someone's house, is that reckless behavior?  

This definition is certainly open to interpretation based on the specific facts of the case. In some cases, security camera footage is available for review, which can be a powerful tool to show what actually happened, in addition to witness accounts. 

DEFENDANT WAS NOT THE CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE

In some cases, it may be shown that the accused is not the person who caused the damage. This defense breaks the chain of causation between the accused and the alleged offense. Commonly this occurs where crowds of people are gathered such as at a concert or in a bar and the management accuses an individual or many individuals of committing the offense. Security camera footage and witness accounts are helpful in showing that the accused did not commit the damage.